Wayanad loses its tag of safest haven for tigers

The shooting down by the state forest officials of a wild tiger on December 2 for predating on domestic animals has made Wayanad lose its tag as one of the country's safest havens for the national animal. The killed beast was an old and emaciated tigress which was trapped and subsequently released to jungle by the state forest officials on November 13.

According to the state forest department, the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary (WWS) in the Wayand district with a population of 78 Royal Bengal Tigers including 11 cubs in its 344.44 sq km area, has the country's highest tiger density. WWS, also a favoured habitat for the Asiatic elephants, is an integral part of the Nilgiri Biosphere in the Western Ghats and lies contiguous to the protected regions of Nagerhole and Bandipur of Karnataka in the northeast and Mudumala of Tamil Nadu in the southeast.

The two tiger reserves in Kerala - Periyar (777 sq km) and Parambikkulam (657 sq km) - have 37 and 44 tigers respectively. After the study done jointly by state forest department and WWF showed the high tiger density in WWS, the central Ministry of Environment and Forests in June this year had informed in June its readiness to declare it as a tiger reserve. But following a public outburst against the proposal after the increasing incidence of cattle-kill by tigers the United Democratic Front government has decided not to have it.

The Western Ghat region which holds the country's second largest tiger population saw the highest growth in its numbers - from 412 to 534 - during 2006-11 when total tiger count in India rose from 1411 to 1706.

The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) which investigated the December 2 incident has found many serious lapses on the side of the officials which culminated in the death of the old (13 years) and emaciated-looking tigress. It has also recommended to the state government punitive action against even high ranking forest officials for ordering the hunting down of an animal enlisted in the Schedule 1 of the National Wildlife Act of 1972 which should be accorded maximum protection and the violation of which attracts highest penalty. It was the Bangalore-based Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) which established through advanced camera trap study that the killed tiger was the same that was captured and released by the forest department two weeks earlier.

The NTCA report has put the state government in a dilemma. For the decision to shoot down the tiger was taken under heavy public pressure articulated by political parties which "bayed for the blood of the predator". More than a dozen domestic animals like cattle, goats etc were killed in November alone in these villages.

According to local people the increase in the tiger population in the region has led to a steep rise in cattle-killing. The tiger population in WWS was estimated to have been only 15 in 2009. It is modern techniques like camera trapping employed by the forest department since 2010 showed the latest number to be 78. As per forest department statistics the incidents of cattle-kill too rose from barely 4 to 80 per year in the past decade forcing it to shell out a compensation of more than Rs 15 lakhs in 2011-12 to those who lost their animals.

Most of the loss was on account of tiger attacks. But environmentalists say that it was the loss of forest space was causing the animals to pray on domesticated areas. According to them even the cattle-killing too came down from 80 last year to only 57 upto November. According to wildlife experts like tiger expert Ullas Karanth, even the estimates of tiger population in WWS is exaggerated. According to him WWS is contiguous part of the 4000 sq km landscape that includes tiger reserves like Bandipur, Nagerhole and Mudumala and many of the tigers animals identified as belonging to WWS might be well be from the other three reserves.

Following the public outcry by the local community against the increasing incidents of cattle-killing by tigers, the state government has also decided not to recommend the sanctuary to be declared the state's third Tiger Reserve. "As the public sentiment is overwhelmingly against a tiger reserve we will not recommend it" said Chief Minister Oommen Chandy who went to Wayanad personally to pacify local community angered by the reported move to declare WWS a tiger reserve. There have been blockades, hartals and gherao of forest officials in Wayanad against the cattle-killing incidents and also the proposals to declare the Tiger Reserve.

However, environmentalists point out that the locals were largely misinformed about the tiger reserve and the Real Estate lobby, intent to encroach into forests to build resorts etc was instigating the public.

"Pristine forest areas in Wayanad are being increasingly being encroached to build tourist resorts etc. This lobby fears that once the tiger reserve comes they would be under strict vigil and conversion of forest areas would be difficult. Moreover, funds received from the central government for the tiger reserve would be used to benefit the local community" says P.S. Easa, wildlife expert from Kerala Forest Research Institute. According to environmentalists more than 100 resorts and hotels have sprung up in Wayanad district in the past 5 years alone.

Environmentalists have condemned the killing of the tiger as unnecessary act taken by succumbing to mob frenzy and political gamesmanship. "Officials simply succumbed to public pressure to kill it unnecessarily even after firing two tranquilizers" said S Guruvayoorappan, Coordinator, Wildlife Protection Society of India. Maneka Gandhi called for action against the officials for killing a tiger which was not a man-eater.

The events that led to the killing of the tiger had begun in November with many villagers in the Kerala-Karnataka border complaining of increased cattle-killing and lifting by a rogue tiger. This led to panic and protest in the Appappara and Tirunelli villages triggering forest and revenue officials initiating steps to trap the predator.

On November a 13, the year-old tigress walked into the trap and sections of the public even demanded it to be killed. But officials later released it by afternoon in Dottakulasi forest area claimed to be a suitable habitat with good prey base and away from human habitation on the Karnataka-Kerala border. But angry villagers near neighbouring Sultan Bathery detained officials and blockaded the forest offices for not releasing the predator sufficiently away from human habitations. The subsequent days witnessed a spurt in attacks on cattle by the tiger spreading more panic and anger among local community. These incidents coupled with the reported move to declare WWS a tiger reserve area triggered continued agitations, hartals and blockades by local people. Following this the state government directed the forest department to hunt the beast. On November 21 V Gopinathan, Chief Wild Life Warden ordered capturing of the beast by any means. After a 12 day-long combing operation by a 15 member-joint team of forest officials from Kerala and Karnataka aided by elephants etc tracked down and shot dead the tiger near a coffee plantation. After tracking the animal prowling near the plantations around 7.30 am, veterinary surgeons in the team shot a tranquilizer (ketamine) dart at it. Though it hit target, the beast soon fled into the plantation. The team accompanied by the shouting public chased the beast and when hit by the second dart, it jumped towards an official. This led to the guard shooting it dead.

"But for the public frenzy, the animal would have been tranquilized by the second shot and captured. We could have saved its life but for the heavy pressure exerted by the angry public on the officials to kill" said O P Kaler, Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife). Gopalakrishna Bhat, District Collector, Wayanad said there was no option but to kill the beast in self-defence done under Section 11 (1) A of Wildlife Act. "We had official permission to kill when other means failed" said he. But environmentalists slam the officials for succumbing to the public frenzy instead of doing their duty.